Oct. 20, 2009 -- Depressed heart patients don't get extra help from omega-3
fatty acids when they take the supplements along with an antidepressant drug, a
clinical trial shows.

Heart patients are often prescribed omega-3 supplements. There's evidence
that the supplements can make antidepressants significantly more effective,
although not every study has detected this effect.

To see what's going on, Washington University researcher Robert M. Carney,
PhD, and colleagues enrolled 122 patients with heart disease and clinical
depression in a clinical trial. None of the patients was taking either
antidepressants or omega-3 supplements at the time.

All the patients received the antidepressant Zoloft at a dose of 50
milligrams per day, with a two-week run-in period to allow the drug to take
effect. Half also got two Lovaza capsules, which together contain about 2 grams
of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. The other half of the patients got
placebo capsules containing corn oil.

People in both groups became less depressed. There was no sign that those
taking omega-3 supplements got better or improved faster than those taking
placebo pills.

"Although some trials of omega-3 for depression have been strongly positive,
others -- including the present study -- have failed to demonstrate a benefit,"
Carney and colleagues conclude.

The positive results from some studies suggest to the researchers that there
may be a subgroup of heart patients that may benefit from the combination
treatment. The researchers are analyzing their data to see whether they can
identify such a group.

Carney and colleagues report their findings in the Oct. 21 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was funded by the
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; Pfizer supplied the Zoloft and
GlaxoSmithKline supplied the Lovaza.